The Beatles' "A Doll's House"

A lot has been written about creating a single album from The Beatles' "White Album." Online, you'll find numerous attempts, public polls, arguments, etc.

My personal feeling is that there is a great concept album lurking in the "White Album" begging to come out. It's fairly common knowledge that The Beatles originally planned to call the album A Doll's House after playwright Henrik Ibsen's play. However, when the group Family used the title Music from a Doll's House for its debut album, The Beatles' title was scrapped.

To me, A Doll's House conjures up the idea of childhood, and there are plenty of songs on the "White Album" that connect with childhood themes. With that in mind, I put together a single disc concept album that I think really works.

SIDE A

1. Glass Onion

2. Dear Prudence

3. Birthday

4. Savoy Truffle

5. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

6. Mother Nature's Son

7. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

SIDE B

1. Martha My Dear

2. Piggies

3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey

4. Blackbird

5. Rocky Raccoon

6. Cry Baby Cry

7. Good Night

Kicking off Side A is "Glass Onion." It's the perfect song to link previous Beatles songs with what is to come and serves as an introduction to this album. "Dear Prudence," an invitation to come out and play, follows. Then the party starts with "Birthday" and everyone can indulge in sweets with "Savoy Truffle." Then there follows storytime and singalongs -- "...Bungalow Bill," "Mother Nature's Son" and "Ob-La-Di...."

The second side of the album begins with an "Animals Suite," which harks back to the album cover: "Martha My Dear" (about Paul's sheepdog), "Piggies," "...Me and My Monkey," "Blackbird" and "Rocky Raccoon." "Cry Baby Cry"—it's nap time, and you sing the lullaby "Good Night."

Not only do all of these songs fit in well thematically, but there is also a good balance of contributions: five vocals by John, six by Paul, two by George and one by Ringo.

All of these tracks are available on the "White Album." Slight trimming is needed on "Dear Prudence" at the beginning to remove the jet sounds that bleed in from "Back in the U.S.S.R."

Here's a YouTube playlist to listen to this "lost" concept album.